FMA: Exhumed: Necrocracy (2013)

Originally reviewed here.

Exhumed perfectly captured their sound with the title of their 1998 album Gore Metal. The California-based bashers have long played a disgusting, blood-soaked mix of death metal and grindcore with lyrical themes running the gamut from gore to death and everything in between. Not exactly subtle, but then some bands can get away with that.

My only real previous experiences with Exhumed have been with their covers album Garbage Daze Re-regurgitated and the fact that two former Exhumed members are in Ghoul. Not the most helpful foundation to get a feel for their real sound.

At this point in the band's existence, Exhumed is mostly a pure death metal band. Some grinding riffs continue to sneak in now and again, but this is basically unadulterated death metal, with all of the expectations that that entails. Thick, nasty bottom-end, bone-crushing riffs, and deep, guttural roars. The band does use some impressive melodic guitar leads and solos that complement the crunching riffs well.

Exhumed changes things up a bit by including two vocalists. Bud Burke handles the more stereotypical death metal growls while Matt Harvey (not to be confused with the New York Mets pitcher) contributes shrieking, almost hardcore style vocals. The vocal dichotomy is one of the reasons that Exhumed stands out from their much more one-note peers.

Exhumed perform all of this with tongue planted firmly in cheek, much like Cannibal Corpse, proving that death metal can still be a lot of fun. And this album is definitely fun.